Mercury dispenser



July 8, 1958 E. H. DODGE ETAL 2,842,290

MERCURY DISPENSER Filed Dec. 19, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS ERLE H- 0006f STANLEY d GART/VER ATTORNE Y y 1958 E. H. DODGE ETAL 2,842,290

MERCURY DISPENSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 19. 1955 2 Fig.3

INVENTORS 51m: l1. DODGE swan GARTNER ATTORNEY 2,842,290 MERCURY DISPENSER Erle H. Dodge, Beverly, Mass., and Stanley J. Gartner, Emporium, Pa., assignors to Sylvania Electric Products Inc., Salem, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application December 19, 1955, Serial No. 553,992

4 Claims. (Cl. 222-167) This invention relates to apparatus for metering and dispensing mercury or similar substances, and more particularly to apparatus for introducing mercury or similar substances into electric discharge devices, such as fluorescent lamps for example.

In the manufacture of certain electric gaseous discharge devices, such as fluorescent lamps for example, the general practice heretofore has usually been to exhaust and fill the elongated tubular lamp envelopes while they are disposed in a vertical plane. Generally, the mercury dispensing devices employed to introduce mercury into a lamp envelope when it is so disposed utilize a reciprocating plunger with a metering orifice therein for withdrawing a small quantity of mercury from a reservoir thereof and placing it in communication with a sleeve or passageway in register with a tubulation projecting from the end of the lamp envelope. The mercury then drops therethrough and into the lamp envelope.

When, however, the lamp envelopes are disposed in a horizontal plane during exhausting and filling, as taught in the co-pending application of Dodge and Kimball, Serial No. 343,842, filed March 23, 1953, now U. S. Patent 2,726,799, and assigned to the same assignee as this application, gravity cannot be relied upon to effect an introduction of the mercury into the lamp envelope.

Thus, an object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for metering and introducing mercury or similar substances into electric discharge devices.

Another object is to provide an apparatus for metering and introducing mercury into a lamp envelope when the lamp envelope is disposed in a horizontal plane.

A further object is to provide an apparatus of the type described which is relatively simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture and easy to maintain.

The foregoing objects and others are attained, in acr cordance with the principles of our invention, by providing a mercury reservoir with a plate disposed therein and fixedly attached thereto. This plate is provided with a scoop, a feeding trough, a metering pocket and a spillway. Actuation of the mercury dispenser is effected by rotation thereof, either about its own axis or aboutthe axis of some other member, such as, for example, the spider or turret of a machine with which it may be associated. When actuated, the scoop picks up a quantity of mercury in excess of the amount to be dispensed, the feeding trough conveys this quantity of mercury to the metering pocket, and the excess runs off the spillway back into the main body of mercury. The mercury remaining in the metering pocket is then dislodged therefrom and introduced into the electric discharge device.

A specific embodiment of this invention is described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the mercury dispenser.

Figure 2 is a front view of the mercury dispenser with the cover removed.

United States Patent Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the positions which the plate within the mercury reservoir assumes at several points during an operating cycle thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, particularly Figures 1 and 2 thereof, the mercury dispenser illustrated therein comprises a reservoir 10, a cover 12, and a dispenser plate 14 disposed between the rim of the reservoir 10 and the cover 12 and attached thereto by screws 16. Communication is established between the reservoir 10 and a source of gas under pressure by' means of tubing 18 which is threaded into a wall of the reservoir 10. A body of mercury 20 is introduced into the reservoir 10 through filling aperture 22 which is provided with a closure 24.

. The cover 12, which is provided with a centrally located aperture 13, has an externally threaded boss 26 within which resilient collar 28 is seated. A cap 30, having a centrally located funnel-shaped aperture 32 in register with aperture 13 in cover 12, is threaded on the boss 26. Communication is established between the reservoir 10 and the interior of an electric discharge device (not shown) by means of apertures 13 and 32, and a tubulation 34 projecting from the electric discharge device. A hermetic seal about the tubulation 34 is effected by compression of the resilient collar 28.

The dispenser plate 14 is machined to provide a scoop 36, afeeding trough 38, a metering pocket 40 and a spillway 42 in a face thereof. The scoop 36 is cut away at 37 to make it shallow in order that a minimum amount of mercury in excess of the amount to be metered is picked up during each operating cycle, regardless of the quantity of mercury in the reservoir.

When an electric discharge device, having a tubulation 34 projecting therefrom and in communication with the interior thereof, is to be provided with a filling of merr cury, the tubulation 34 is placed in communication with the interior of the reservoir 10 by inserting the free end thereof through the funnel-shaped aperture 32 in cap 30 and through the resilient collar 28. When so located, the tubulation 34 is in register with aperture 13 in cover 12 and metering pocket 40. Cap 30 is then rotated to effect a tightening thereof on boss 26 sufficient to provide an air-tight seal between the resilient collar 28 and the tubulation 34 which extends therethrough.

An operating cycle of the mercury dispenser will now be described, reference being made primarily to Figure 3 which shows the positions which the dispenser plate 14 assumes at several points during an operating cycle thereof. As the reservoir moves from point A to point B, that portion of the dispenser plate 14 which is characterized by a scoop, a feeding trough and a metering pocket, moves upwardly and out of the main body of mercury 20, carrying with it a quantity of mercury 21 which has been separated from the main body by scoop' 36. Further rotation of the reservoir as it moves from point B through point C to point D causes that portion of the quantity of mercury 21 in excess of the amount which fills the metering pocket to flow from the feeding trough, over the spillway and back into the main body of mercury 20, leaving a pellet 23 of mercury filling the metering pocket. Immediately thereafter the pellet 23 is ejected from the metering pocket and swept into the tubulation 34 (Fig. 1) bythe introduction of a gas under pressure into the reservoir through tubing 18, the gas dislodging the pellet 23 and forcing it through the aperture 13 in the cover 12 and into the tubulation 34. Subsequent rotation of reservoir 10 as it moves through points E, F, G and H completes the rotational movement of dispenser plate 14 through the body of mercury 20 and advances the dispenser plate 14 to a point where the scoop 36 thereof may again effect a separation of a quantity of mercury 21 from the main body of mercury 20.

What we claim is:

1. Apparatus for metering measured amounts of mercury or similar substances comprising: a rotatable reservoir within which a body of mercury is disposed; and a plate disposed within said reservoir and attached thereto, said plate having a scoop formed therein adjacent to the periphery thereof, a metering pocket formed therein, and a feeding trough formed therein and connecting said scoop to said metering pocket, said plate being moveable, upon rotation of said reservoir, into and out of the said body of mercury whereby said scoop withdraws a quantity of mercury from the said body of mercury and the said feeding trough conveys it to the said metering pocket.

2. Apparatus for metering measured amounts of mercury or similar substances comprising: a rotatable reservoir within which a body of mercury is disposed; and a plate disposed within said reservoir and attached thereto, said plate having a scoop formed therein adjacent to the periphery thereof, a metering pocket formed therein, a

feeding trough formed therein and connecting said scoop to said metering pocket, and a spillway formed therein adjacent to said metering pocket, said plate being moveable, upon rotation of said reservoir, into and out of said body of mercury whereby said scoop withdraws from said body of mercury a quantity of mercury greater than the amount required to fill said metering pocket, the said feeding trough conveys it to the said metering pocket, and the mercury in excess of the quantity which fills the metering pocket is returned to the said body of mercury over said spillway.

3. Apparatus for metering and dispensing measured amounts of mercury or similar substances comprising: a rotatable reservoir within which a body of mercury is disposed; a cover attached to the rim of said reservoir, said cover having an aperture formed therein and extending therethrough; a plate disposed within said reservoir and attached thereto, said plate having a scoop formed therein adjacent to the periphery thereof, a metering pocket formed therein and in register with said aperture in said cover, and a feeding trough formed therein and connecting said scoop to said metering pocket, said plate being moveable, upon rotation of said reservoir, into and out of the said body of mercury whereby said scoop withdraws a quantity of mercury from the said body of mercury and the feeding trough conveys it to the said metering pocket; and means for introducing gas under pressure into said reservoir whereby the mercury in said metering pocket is dislodged and forced through said aperture in said cover.

4. Apparatus for metering and dispensing measured amounts of mercury or similar substances comprising: a rotatable reservoir within which a body of mercury is disposed; a cover attached to the rim of said reservoir, said cover having an aperture formed therein and extending therethrough; a plate disposed within said reservoir and attached thereto, said plate having a scoop formed therein adjacent to the periphery thereof, a metering pocket formed therein and in register with said aperture in said cover, a feeding trough formed therein and connecting said scoop to said metering pocket, and a spillway formed therein adjacent to said metering pocket, said plate being moveable, upon rotation of said reservoir, into and out of said body of mercury whereby said scoop withdraws from the said body of mercury a quantity of mercury greater than the amount required to fill said metering pocket, the said feeding trough conveys it to the said metering pocket, and the mercury in excess of the quantity which fills the metering pocket is returned to the said body of mercury over said spillway; and means for introducing gas under pressure into said reservoir whereby the mercury in said metering pocket is dislodged and forced through said aperture in said cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 801,627 Wunsch Oct. 10, 1905 2,374,304 Owings Apr. 24, 1945 2,433,177 Wainio Dec. 23, 1947 2,581,674 King Jan. 8, 1952 2,678,238 Schutz May 11, 1954 

